DOWN ON THE FARM-The Mistwood Golf Club Honey Farm is producing the fall season honey. Just in time for the holidays. So stop by the Mistwood Golf Club and visit McWethy’s Tavern to get your holiday honey. The Mistwood Golf Dome is now open for the winter. So visit McWethysTavern.com or Mistwoodgolfdome.com (630)-739-7600.
THE GOG BLOG by RORY SPEARS, Director of Content and Creation for Golfers on Golf. Follow Rory on Twitter @GogBlogGuy or connect on LinkedIn and Facebook.
JDC Clair Peterson recent conducted his final Birdies for Charity announcement. Photo by Rory Spears.
ONE MORE TIME
John Deere Classic Executive Director Clair Peterson recently presided over his last charity announcement for the John Deere Classic.
So it only seems fitting that the Birdies for Charity announcement, set a record. By the amount of $89,514 dollars.
But the total for the year was $13,908,668 million dollars. The previous record was $13,819, 154 set in 2019. But even better news is that there is 481 charities, that will receive a 7% bonus.
Since the John Deere Classic was founded in 1971, and ran under several other names and title sponsors before the arrival of John Deere in 1998, the total amount of dollars raised for charity is now $159.57 million dollars.
“As always, we are thankful to our fans, John Deere, and other corporate partners and local family foundations for their ongoing generosity and support for Birdies for Charity,” Peterson said. “John Deere takes pride in it’s unique position as a civic leader and nowhere is that leadership more apparent than in it’s support of our charity initiatives.”
Based on the number of residents (375,000) in the Quad Cities area, the amount raised this year breaks down to $37 dollars per person.
The JDC also announced that Ken Goddard of DeWitt Iowa, won the drawing of a two-year lease on a Lexus RX350. Goddard and four other finalists correctly picked the exact number of birdies (2,041) in this years John Deere Classic.
The 2023 John Deere Classic will be held July 3-9. J.T. Poston is the defending champion.
Peterson wraps up a 45 year career with John Deere after starting in the companies marketing department in 1975, after graduating with a journalism degree from Iowa State. Peterson started in golf as a caddie at the Seth Raynor designed Blue Mound Country Club near Milwaukee. He was hired as the John Deere Classic tournament director in 2002, with first tournament being in 2003. Peterson beat out over 80 other candidates for the position.
As TPC Deere Run came together, it’s was Peterson who named all 18 of the golf holes, and wrote the historical descriptions tied into the land and history of the area.
PGA Tour players and Ryder Cup captains Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker both spoke about Peterson’s endless contributions to the tournament. There are many PGA Tour players who consider Peterson as one of the best tournament directors on the PGA Tour.